Clearly we have one more session with the Jade Ravens - not sure if that will take a whole session.

We need to finish our interrogation of the prisoner, finish searching the caves and hopefully locate some loot. There might be more combat, so we should heal if possible.

Interrogation:What is the Blessing? What does it do? Why doesn't he have it. How do you get it?What else or who else is here?What does he know about the black pearls?What does he know about the pirates?What is his god and religion?

Where do the Jade Ravens go next? Communication spell to talk with PCs.

What do the PCs want to do next?

Games I am... Judging - Nothing at the moment Playing - William Flagg's, Zevenalia Campaign (home brew), PFRPG; Ken Mezger's, Rise of the Rune Lords, PFRPG

I'll summarize what the Jade Ravens find here, and you can ask questions if you want. I don't think we need another session for the Jade Ravens, unless you guys want to keep playing them!

The Jade Ravens search the cavern, which is apparently called Lagroat. It contains a dozen crude mud and stone huts, and a 20 foot tall statue of some troglodyte deity, as well as two big cages.

In the middle of the cavern, there's a big pit, ten feet deep and thirty feet across. It's rimmed with wooden stakes. Disturbing fetishes and bits of bone hand from these rotting lengths of wood.

Within the pit, dozens of troglodyte corpses lie heaped in various stages of decay. The bodies are strangely dry, their skin flaking off the bone in brittle sheets and cancerous hunks.

There are 3 passageways out of Lagroat. One is the one by which the Jade Ravens entered. A second, like it, it also has an iron grate, and leads off. The third is actually a deep crevice at the back of the caves, which has a rickety wooden

lift which can be used to go down. It goes down at least 60 feet. According to Kaskus, tracks indicate that there has been a lot of activity around the edge of this pit recently, and a path has been worn between the pit's edge and the passageway you

came in by.

The Jade Ravens do find some treasure, mostly on the priestly troglodytes:

12 sets of +1 bracers of armor

28 doses of some kind of pulpy poultice (the trogs seem to smear themselves with it)

10 potions of cure moderate wounds (which the DM mostly forgot to use in the fight ;-) )

assorted trinkets , hunks of gold and silver, and gems worth 450gp

110 doses of a drug called Sannish, worth 15gp each on the black market in Sasserine (but very addictive)

It becomes apparent that everyone in Lagroat, save the prisoner, was afflicted by some terrible disease

The prisoner's name (who knew Troglodytes had names? ) is Irgzid Uzeye. There is also an Olman prisoner, who appears to have lost his mind or something.

I'm good Wednesday night after 9pm central. Thursday next week and for the next 7 days I'll be in Austin at the Fantastic Fest, an international horror, sci-fi, martial arts movie festival. That means I'm out a week from Monday.

What is the Blessing? What does it do? Why doesn't he have it. How do you get it?

The blessing is the disease that all of the trogs have. He doesn't know why he doesn't have it, and the other trogs imprisoned him in the hopes that he'd get it too.
Several of the NPCs now have 'the blessing'.

What else or who else is here?

There is another trog village much like this one (but without the blessing) several miles down one of the paths. The lift goes down to a tunnel that goes far into the earth, eventually reaching the temple of the ancient ones.

What does he know about the black pearls?
The trogs receive the pearls far beneath the earth from the fishmen, trading slaves for them that they get from the pirates. They get to keep some of the slaves (which are eaten). They're essentially middlemen in an exchange.

What does he know about the pirates?
They come every few months to trade slave for pearls.

What is his god and religion?
He worships Laogzed, God of Troglodytes! He believes that his village elders became heretics and were corrupted by the fishmen below. He was imprisoned because he spoke out against the heresy. The others felt that if he received 'Laogzed's Blessing' that he too would recant his ways.

Hmmm... Fishmen - the source of the pearls. This might call for the PC's to step in and investigate further.

As I recall we were told that we came early and the pirates were not expected for a while yet. That gives us time to investigate other things, like more of the interior of the Isle of Dread if we so wish.

I wonder if it would be worth setting a trap for the next visiting pirates before we go below to find the fishmen.

Games I am... Judging - Nothing at the moment Playing - William Flagg's, Zevenalia Campaign (home brew), PFRPG; Ken Mezger's, Rise of the Rune Lords, PFRPG

I found out late last night that Ken's father just had emergency triple bypass heart surgery. Ken will be at Houston's Medical Center 'til Monday so I doubt he'll have time to prepare for the game this week.

Thanks to all of you. My father did well in surgery and recovery and actually got moved to a private room out of the ICU this morning.

I'm back in LA now, but I haven't even thought about the game, so I'm not going to run it tonight. Thanks everyone for thinking of my Dad!

You guys should assume some things:

1) The Jade Ravens return to Farshore after the recent fight, arriving approximately the same time as the PCs. They bring the feral Olman warrior, but not the troglodyte (he's too stinky). I want you guys to decide whether they kill it, or let it go.

2) The bard NPC gains a level; the others just get tick marks. Not sure where this puts them, but I'd certainly level them if they survived another fight of this magnitude.

Try to decide what you want to do next, so that I can prepare. At this point, given that Noltus is dead, I'm guessing you'll follow up on the leads the Jade Ravens generated.

Amella was four tick marks from leveling. Ken, would you say the big trog battle counts as two?

As for the trog prisoner, I don't mind letting him go, presumably to head to that other tribe of trogs. That might win favor if the JRs or the PCs ever come back this way, e.g., to explore that "temple of the ancients" and/or hunt down the fishmen (if that's not the same area).

How and how much did the pirates pay the trogs? Did it all go to the fish men below?

I believe Kaskus Kiel has remove disease on his spell list; presumably he casts it on everyone to cure them of the "blessing"...unless this is a magical affliction and the spell does not work?

The pirates only gave the trogs slaves and trinkets. The trinkets weren't worth much and are included in the found treasure. Most of the slaves went down below, the trogs just got a few.

The "blessing" is a normal disease, and Kaskus heals everyone before they reach Farshore. Too bad you guys didn't give me any chance to kill him..I was looking forward to running the 'plague ship' adventure ;-)

Ok, the main party meets the Jade Ravens back at Farshore. While swapping tall tales and nursing wounds, we meet a pointy-eared stranger who moves with an eerie smoothness. Since Noltus the Pelor cleric we were looking for is no more, Ossic proposes we do what we can to eliminate the source of the black pearls. We should have Amella sail us back to the tunnel entrance and head deep into the earth. Whether Amella joins us or stays with/ sails off with the boat is up to Ken.

Underground, we need light, food, water, what else? Maybe barrels of oil? Ossic will offer to cast his double radius continual flame for any and all (Farshore residents as well). Volreff already has one on a dagger.

I propose, to save valuable hacking time, that we start Monday night at the tunnel entrance, ready to retrace the Jade Raven's steps.

After the gang returns to Farshore, Ossic ponders the news of Blodwyn's extended vacation from the hard job of flinging sticks at bad guys.

He realizes the group would face a significant reduction in DPS (or something more in character - um, dang who's gunna killem now?)

Ossic considers inviting Amella or one of the Jade Ravens on board. But they're no replacement for Blodwyn. (Remember, Ossic's never seen Kaskus actually do anything. And he considers Amella to be Judan-lite, no make that Judan-very lite.)

While talking to various NPCs around Farshore, he visits Urol. And they remember the 'statues' recovered from the basilisks way back when. Could one of them be a replacement fighter? Here's a guy with two swords, check. He's got pointy ears, an elf maybe? That's likely a good sign.

Ossic consults with Lavinia, would she be interested in hiring another Joe? No objection there. So, we gather up the gang plus Lavinia and Urol in Urol's basement o'critters. Urol wipes that newly made goo of stone to flesh on the prospective fighter and withdraws rapidly. Lavinia introduces herself, describes where the new guy was found and how he got here. And the newly unstoned elf says...

After taking a few minutes to fully digest the situation he now finds himself thrust into he asks his rescuers, "So, seeing as you've got yourselves a bit of a statue garden here, I imagine either I've been rescued by the people against the extreme transmutation of animals, or there's something you lot want from me. I imagine it's the latter, and as long as it's not something too outlandish... well, I guess I do owe you one."

BTW, I will have to end the game early tonight... but I could start early too, if everyone wants. Could people play at 5:30?

Also, Amella tells Judan one evening that Lavinia has asked her to sail the blue Nixie back to Sasserine with Farshore trade goods, and that she's probably going to accept the offer. So, she'll be leaving , for at least the time of a round trip voyage.